If the Season Ended Today: Thoughts on Regional Pairings

KeithK · February 22, 2003, 11:02:41 PM

Flipping a team from #4 to #3 seed is probably the best solution. And there's a lot of precedent for doing this. So I'd expect that would be the solution.

jtwcornell91 · February 22, 2003, 11:32:45 PM

I would guess after last year they're not going to commit to how they're bracketing the Frozen Four ahead of time. If I were in their shoes, I'd place the top four teams as appropriate (highest seeds closest to home, but avoiding conference matchups with #4) and then pair off the regionals to get the seeding right. So this might mean the NE and E regionals winners play in the semis. (Basically a 1 in 3 chance.)

The only question I have is whether the avoidance of first-round matchups overrides the desire to keep the top teams close to home. If Providence is a 4 seed and the top two Eastern teams are from HE, will they send the lower-ranked one West?

DeltaOne81 · February 23, 2003, 01:45:20 AM

Well Providence is out as of tonight, and I started doing it again... I don't think we're gonna want to do this after ever weekend (I'm getting tired already :-) ) - but I was bored enough to do it once more.

But as I type this I realize, if JTW is right above, then there's a decent chance they could decided to seed the #1s with CC in the W, Maine in the NE (Prov), BC in the NE, and us in Ann Arbor, since it's "only" a 7.5 hour drive cross Canada according to Yahoo - while Worcester is 5.5 and Providence is 6. Yahoo tends to exagerrate from my experience (probably takes the speed limit as a fact), but that's the relative times.

There's also another issue. Minn is a #2 and has to be in the West. Mich is a #3 and has to be in the midwest. All the other #3s are WCHA teams, so the West 2/3 game has to be Minn vs. SCSU/UND/MSU-Man . You can't really just flip the 3/4 out west bc the 4 is the MAAC team put there for CC. So, if it ended today, not sure what they'd do.

BTW, John, when is "you be the committee" coming?

jtwcornell91 · February 23, 2003, 09:38:02 AM

DeltaOne81 '03 wrote:

QuoteBut as I type this I realize, if JTW is right above, then there's a decent chance they could decided to seed the #1s with CC in the W, Maine in the NE (Prov), BC in the NE, and us in Ann Arbor, since it's "only" a 7.5 hour drive cross Canada according to Yahoo - while Worcester is 5.5 and Providence is 6. Yahoo tends to exagerrate from my experience (probably takes the speed limit as a fact), but that's the relative times.

Athought people keep asserting this on the USCHO board, I don't think it'll happen. The procedures say "No. 1 seeds are placed as close to home as possible in order of their ranking 1-4" which to me says the #3 team (Cornell) would get preference over the #4 in staying as close to home as possible. So #1 CC goes to Minneapolis, #2 Maine goes to Worcester, #3 Cornell goes to Providence, and #4 BC goes to Ann Arbor.

ZooeyDog · February 23, 2003, 09:57:34 AM

[Q]So #1 CC goes to Minneapolis, #2 Maine goes to Worcester, #3 Cornell goes to Providence, and #4 BC goes to Ann Arbor.[/Q]

You're absolutely right...and especially if Providence does snare an at-large. If they do, it's almost a lock-cinch certainty that BC (or UNH) travels to Ann Arbor, because Cornell would be the only Eastern top seed eligible to play a Hockey East team in the first round.

So we'd be left either hoping Providence *does* get in, which would make it a heck of a lot easier for most of us to actually go to the game, or rolling the dice and hoping Providence *doesn't* get in, but that we'd be able to stay east by virtue of the seeding committee's sanity (or lack thereof).

Pick your poison.

ZD

ZooeyDog · February 23, 2003, 10:00:28 AM

Actually...are we potentially missing something? Is there any sort of possibility that if Providence *really* catches fire between now and the NCAAs, that they could actually wind up the #3 seed in the Providence regional? That would conceivably ease some of the pressure we're feeling...maybe even let Maine get thrown into that regional if we wind up topping them in PWR....

Is this possible (asked the lazy Cornell fan)?

ZD

Tom Pasniewski 98 · February 24, 2003, 11:34:23 AM

Moving to #3 would require Providence to make a run in the HE tourney and Providence's road to Boston (HE Final Four) goes through Boston University in the first round (just don't know who will host the series). I don't think we want BU to take any more losses. I started the thread feeling ::screwy:: and now am just plain ::nut:: . Too much uncertainty. I do agree that we may catch a break if UHN or BC should join Maine ahead of us. We would still probably draw a #1 in the east if PC is still around.

Adam · February 24, 2003, 12:19:29 PM

So, would we actually be better off (i.e. staying in the east with a 2 seed and avoiding a Providence home match-up) if we LOST either to Yale or Princeton or early in the ECAC's?

Keith K · February 24, 2003, 12:38:54 PM

No, we'd be better off just running the table through April...

Talking about whether we'd be better off losing is silly. We'll take the matchup we get. If we win out we have a not so terrible chance of getting matched up with a CHA/MAAC team anyway.

ZooeyDog · February 24, 2003, 05:14:06 PM

[Q]Talking about whether we'd be better off losing is silly.[/Q]

You're absolutely right, Keith. It is silly. And yet the fact remains it's possible that Cornell would actually be better off -- in terms of ease of passage through the regionals -- if it lost, rather than if it ran the table. Clearly, I'm not going to sit here hoping we lose. But the fact that the NC$$'s rules put us in that position is pretty ridiculous....

Nevertheless...the easiest course remains: Cornell wins out, Maine dumps a couple, and BU takes PC behind the woodshed. Then all my kvetching can go the way of the dodo, or the 12-team tournament.

ZD

nyc94 · February 24, 2003, 10:20:39 PM

Friday night
New Hampshire at Boston College               7:00 ET
Boston University at   Maine               7:00 ET
Mass.-Lowell at   Providence               7:00 ET

Saturday night
Boston College at New Hampshire               7:00 ET
Boston University at   Maine               7:00 ET

and they can't all win the league tournament

Greg Berge · February 25, 2003, 02:46:10 AM

Hey, our best NC$$ chance would be to take the next three weeks off, keep our current PWR, and get healthy for the NC$$.

Zugzwang happens.